Clemson residents pitch $1M to start on Green Crescent Trail

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The first section of the trail would focus on connecting parks along Berkeley Drive.

Residents see the trail as a potential draw for new university faculty and tourists.

The Clemson City Council will have a $1 million decision to make about the future of the city as it approaches the next budget cycle.

In 2015, during the city's comprehensive planning process, Chad Carson and other residents started talking about the city's assets, from parks to the Clemson Experimental Forest. Carson said they concluded the city had "amazing resources" which are poorly connected.

Those conversations sparked discussions about building a trail system in the city, with the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville and Doodle Trail in Easley as promising case studies. The Friends of the Green Crescent Trail was formed and conducted a feasibility study in 2016.

Based on the study, the Clemson portion of the Green Crescent Trail would cost around $20 million over the next 10 to 20 years, Carson, president of the Friends of the Green Crescent Trail, said.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting, the council members heard a proposal for the first steps that could be taken to develop the connected trail system. The total ask for the first part of the trail is $1,025,644.

"Up until now it has been all vision," Carson said. "If it is funded, within a year we can have something on the ground."

Chad Carson presents a proposed first step on the Green Crescent Trail to the Clemson city council.(Photo11: Mollie R. Simon)

The proposal includes three main parts: connections along Berkeley Drive and Frontage Road for $161,226, a path through Ashley Dearing Park for $245,913 and a path in Clemson Park for $618,504.

Carson said the initial proposal is for the Berkeley Drive section because there are no private landowners that have to get involved. There are also existing pieces of infrastructure, such as Clemson Elementary School and three local parks which can be connected with one stretch.

A dozen residents spoke in support of the Green Crescent Trail pitch, many wearing green shirts.

They spoke about how an investment in the trail could reshape the city as a tourist destination and make it more pedestrian-friendly,

Jan Holmevik, president of the faculty senate at Clemson, said a lot of faculty support the project. New faculty members choose to live in Greenville instead of Clemson, he said.

"Having something like this trail come in to this community will help us recruit faculty and staff that have an active lifestyle," Holmevik said.

Holmevik noted that the project could also be an economic engine.

Dan Greene, a finance professor at Clemson, told the council he takes his family to Easley to use the Doodle Trail. Once there, they usually go out and eat dinner.

"Those are dollars that could be spent in Clemson," Greene said.

Claiborne Linvill lives along the path of the proposed trail. She is excited about what the trail might mean for her 9-year-old daughter, an avid cyclist.

"We want to see streetscapes that show we are prioritizing people on foot," Linvill said.

The first major piece to the Green Crescent Trail would be along Berkeley Drive in Clemson.(Photo11: Mollie R. Simon)

City Council member Fran McGuire voiced support for the project but also noted there are neighborhoods left out of the current plan. He specifically mentioned the homes along Fabrica Street as an example.

"There are forgotten neighborhoods in Clemson, so why are they forgotten in what will be a jewel of the city from day one?" McGuire asked.

McGuire said he would be willing to invest even more in the project if it addressed those communities.

In finishing his presentation, Carson invoked Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney. He called on the council to go "all in" on the project as it considers how to allocate funds for the next fiscal year.